A porcelain snowflake by Laurel Lukaszewski, one of the artists participating in the WPA's “Icebox 2011” holiday art sale. (Laurel Lukaszewski)

From Dec. 2-23, the WPA headquarters will host Icebox 2011, a holiday-themed gift shop featuring handmade crafts, jewelry, housewares and small works of art from such WPA members as Laurel Lukaszewski, Kristina Bilonick and others. Here’s your chance to own — or give — an affordable, one-of-a kind creation by your favorite artist.

The collaborative Australian artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro are bringing their socially conscious art to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, where “Are We There Yet?” — an exhibition featuring works made of Lego bricks and piles of consumer goods, representing how much food an astronaut would consume on the way to Mars — opens Dec. 3.

On Dec. 8, swing by the Torpedo Factory Art Center. The Old Town art center, which features a mix of galleries and working artists’ studios, is staying open late for “Decadent December,” an event featuring chocolate, wine tasting, a D.I.Y. ornament-making station and open studios. That evening, the Target Gallery will be kicking off “Petri Dish,” a group show featuring tiny works displayed in standard-size petri dishes.

Dec. 10 is the busiest art day all month. At 10 a.m., Hemphill Fine Arts will get things underway with a panel discussion on the relationship between music and visual art, featuring painter Robin Rose — whose work is on view there in “The Big Payback” — as well as Bob Boilen, creator of NPR’s “All Songs Considered,” and NPR music librarian Robert Goldstein, the man who chooses the music used on broadcast programming.

At 4 p.m., the Athenaeum opens “Into the Light,” an exhibition spotlighting the work of two recent graduates of the Corcoran College of Art and Design: ceramicist Victoria Shaheen and photographer Esther Yi.

Then at 8 p.m., the Fridge opens “Part and Parcel,” featuring the work of Project Dispatch, a group of artists that sells three-, six- or 12-month subscriptions to art works by its member artists. Here’s how it works: The Fridge will show several art works wrapped in plain brown paper, available for purchase, sight unseen, through the group’s subscription program, alongside others that are displayed normally.

Lastly, a bit of gallery news: An esoteric little art space is opening this month with a singular — but peculiarly Washingtonian — focus. Called Charles Krause/Reporting, and run by former journalist Charles Krause, the gallery will specialize in the art of protest, propaganda and political change. Normally open by appointment only, the gallery will be open to the public Dec. 17 and 18 from noon to 6 p.m. for a peek at works by Jerzy Janiszewski, who designed Poland’s famous Solidarity logo.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.

To pause and restart automatic updates, click "Live" or "Paused". If paused, you'll be notified of the number of additional comments that have come in.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.

Spam

Offensive

Disagree

Off-Topic

Among the criteria for featured comments: likes by users, replies by users, previous history of valuable commenting, and selection by moderators.